Studies have shown that when students face school-leisure conflicts, their decisions not only relate to the fulfilment of either academic or leisure activities but also result in motivational interference caused by the incentive influences of the unchosen activities, which affects the progress of the chosen activity (Hofer, 2007; Hofer et al., 2010, 2011).

It has also been shown that motivational interference in students is related to their value orientations: students who place higher value on success, future goals, and hard work exhibit less motivational interference after making a school decision and more motivational interference after making a leisure decision; conversely, students who place higher value on leisure and social activities exhibit more motivational interference after making a school decision and less motivational interference after making a leisure decision (Fries et al., 2005; Hofer et al., 2007, 2009, 2011).

It is worth noting that digital technology is inextricably linked to the life of current college students. They can use mobile devices to send out or accept invitations for leisure activities at all times in all places. Many leisure activities can be performed online, such as chatting with friends, watching movies, listening to music, and playing games, necessitating research into school-‘digital leisure’ conflict.

Digital nativity is a psychological construct that represents individual differences in the use of technologies, comfortability with multitasking, use of graphic elements to communicate, and the tendency to thrive on instant gratification and rewards (Teo, 2013). Previous studies have found that multitasking is unfavorable to students’ academic learning (Kraushaar & Novak, 2010; Sana, Weston, & Cepeda, 2013). Moreover, studies have shown that students’ delay of gratification correlates positively with their academic self-regulation (Bembenutty & Karabenick, 1998, 2013). These findings indicate that digital nativity is another possible antecedent of motivational interference in school-digital leisure conflicts.

In this study, we target college students’ motivational interference in school-digital leisure conflicts and examine its relationships with digital nativity and value orientation.

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